Tuesday 19 May 2015 13:31, UK
Nottinghamshire crushed Birmingham Bears by eight wickets thanks to a superb knock by Alex Hales in the NatWest T20 Blast.
In the live Sky contest at Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire were in dominant form, with Hales' incredible knock key to the resounding victory.
Hales smashed six successive sixes as the hosts made it home with 33 balls to spare.
The explosive batsman struck an unbeaten 86 from 43 balls, adding fives fours to his eight sixes.
His run of six sixes came over two overs – the 11th and 12th – as Notts made light work of Birmingham’s 141-7 from their 20 overs.
The unlucky bowlers were Boyd Rankin and Ateeq Javid who conceded 30 and 26 from their two overs each.
Varun Chopra top-scored for the Bears with 80 but was run out on the 61st ball he faced.
As for Hales, he now heads for India to take part in the IPL.
Teenager Matthew Fisher took five wickets on his T20 debut for Yorkshire who eased to a seven-wicket victory over Derbyshire in the opening round of matches at Headingley.
The 17-year-old York-born fast bowler, who is still at school, conceded just 22 runs from his 20 deliveries as the visitors were restricted to 128 from 18.2 overs.
No Derbyshire batsman reached 30, with the hosts making it home with 20 balls to spare.
In reply, Yorkshire lost opener Andy Hodd second ball of the innings – and his first – otherwise it was plain sailing for the White Rose county for whom Jonny Bairstow hit an unbeaten 40 off 35.
But the star of the evening was young Fisher who only made his first-class debut last month.
Elsewhere in the North Group, Calum MacLeod thrashed a 23-ball half-century as Durham beat Northamptonshire by 41 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method at Chester-le-Street.
The Scot made 60 and Phil Mustard added 51 as Durham posted 174-8 after losing the toss and asking the home side to bat first.
And it was a decision the visitors had cause to regret as they stumbled to 47-5 in poor light before rain halted play.
They had batted for eight overs, three more than required for a result to be declared.
Earlier, MacLeod hit his 60 off 32 deliveries that yielded 12 fours while Paul Collingwood was dropped twice in making 27.
Northants' coach David Ripley admitted: "We were well beaten. We didn't know how to cope with someone coming at us so hard at the top of the order.
At Old Trafford, Steve Croft was Lancashire’s hero as the hosts made it home off the final delivery against Leicestershire.
In a match affected by the weather, Lancashire were asked to make 140 from 15 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis method.
Needing 10 runs off the final over, and two from the final ball, Croft smashed a four off the bowling off Ben Raine as last year’s beaten finalists started the 2015 competition with a slender victory.
Croft ended with an unbeaten 70 off 39 balls.
In Bristol, skipper Ian Cockbain made his best ever T20 score of 91 as Gloucestershire trounced Middlesex by seven wickets in the South Group.
Cockbain smacked five sixes and nine fours in an exciting 49-ball innings, while sharing a second-wicket stand of 98 in just 9.3 overs with Hamish Marshall (56).
Middlesex made 175-3, before the hosts reached their target with six balls to spare.
Earlier, Nick Compton hit 78 off 53 but it failed to prevent Gloucestershire from recording a sixth successive T20 victory over Middlesex.
In a high-scoring contest at The Oval, Glamorgan held off Surrey by 15 runs after South African Colin Ingram struck 91 as the visitors piled up 240-3 from their 20 overs.
His 47-ball innings produced seven fours and half-a-dozen sixes, and he shared in a second wicket stand of 141 off 72 deliveries with compatriot Jack Rudolph.
Dean Cosker took 4-30 from his four overs as Surrey were bowled out with three balls remaining.
In Canterbury, Kent held their nerve to beat Sussex by seven runs in a match where all 40 overs were bowled.
Sussex, chasing 186 for victory, needed 18 runs off the final over to be bowled by David Griffiths who conceded 10.
Kent, who won the toss and opted to bat, reached 185-9 from their 20 overs.
Sussex began brightly with a first-wicket stand of 81 between Chris Nash and Luke Wright in 7.4 overs.
However, despite Nash’s 61 off 45, the Sussex innings tailed off as they ended on 178-6 at the St Lawrence Ground.
And at the Rose Bowl, Hampshire edged out Essex by 17 runs.
Jimmy Adams led the way for the hosts with a brisk unbeaten 55 from 25 as Hampshire made 173-4.
And despite an excellent 68 by Essex skipper Ryan ten Doeschate, the visitors were all out for 156 with three deliveries remaining.
The Dutchman was dismissed in the final over, clean bowled by Yasir Arafat, after hitting seven boundaries in his 44-ball innings.
